Reading Otto Penzler

One of the books I received this past Christmas was The Best American Mystery Stories, 2009. This is one of the books of a series published every year (Best American Essays, Short Stories, Spiritual Writing, Nature Writing, Sports Writing, etc.) representing the best writing gleaned from magazines in that genre. I have nearly two entire shelves filled with these titles (dating back to 1985), and I'm beginning to stack the books two and three deep to make room for the new ones.

The Best American Mystery Stories is always edited by Otto Penzler--an icon in the mystery-writer world who owns The Mysterious Bookshop in New York and does the dirty work of gleaning the hundreds/thousands of mystery stories published each year. Otto also writes an introduction to the book.

This past year, reading Otto's into, I was taken by his crotchety approach to the "new publishing", which includes, of course, a growing number of "e-zines", "print on demand" and "electronic formats"--all evidence of the changing face of publishing. Otto spent a few hundred words lamenting the dissipating numbers of readers in America and the continuing changes that are weaning us from print medium to digital formats. I agreed with him, but hold out more hope that, with these changes, new readers and fans will emerge who might actually save publishing as we know it today. But I do agree with Otto: in a nation where the average American buys and reads less than one book per year, there is a premium on learning and knowledge in the classical sense. My hope is that some of the essential knowledge needed is being found online, or through the blogging community, or in other digital formats that are moving at the speed of light.

Like Otto, I'm lost without books. Like Thomas Jefferson, I believe that books contain the knowledge to change the world. And like Erasmus, I buy books (lots of 'em) and if I have any money left over, I buy food.

In fact, in the course of a year, I'm sure my book budget is larger than my personal food budget.

Thanks, Otto, for reminding me about what is essential to life. Even if I'm reading mystery stories.